Saturday, July 05, 2003

Problem Order? Get an Amazon Credit Card Here’s another reader with an interesting on-line shopping experience: “I am writing to see if you have been getting any rumblings about Amazon lately. I had a very unusual experience the last couple of weeks and maybe others are seeing the same thing. I placed an order with Amazon for two computer books about two weeks ago. Within a short time there was an email saying there was a problem with my order. So I go to check on the order and Amazon says there's a problem with my credit card. Almost immediately a window pops up asking if I would like to apply for an Amazon credit card. I ask Amazon to try again and they still say there is a problem with my credit card. So I call my bank. They say they approved the charge. What's more they say the charge has already been made to my credit card even though the books have not yet shipped.” “Second odd thing about the order. I was given a ship date of about two weeks out from the date of the order. This seemed like a long time, but one of the books was free-shipping. After the second notice on the credit card rejection and talking to the bank, I canceled the order. The next day I had my purchasing guy at work order the same two books. They were on my desk within three days. Oh, and the prices were different between the orders – he paid about a dollar more. Is my experience a fluke or is Amazon trying to alienate people?” 4:38:27 PM    comment []